Inside the Sneak Screening of Ryan Murphy’s Latest, The Politician

Inside the Sneak Screening of Ryan Murphy’s Latest, The Politician

“People are going to love it,” said Ben Platt at last night’s sneak screening of The Politician, hosted by Netflix, describing—without revealing too much—Ryan Murphy’s new high school musical comedy, of which he’s the star. “I think it’s a delicious world to spend time in. It’s juicy, and aesthetically there’s so much to bite off of.” True to Murphy’s form, the limited series isn’t without some dark repertoire, featuring taboo topics in a delicate but bold manner. “It comments on modern, sort of socially relevant things without it feeling like that’s the subject matter of the piece,” said Platt. “It’s more of the backdrop for the absurdity and the humor and the black heart of it.”

A self-serve candy bar innocently greeted guests as they filtered into the theater at the cozy Whitby Hotel, but make no mistake we were in for a brooding awakening; this is not your mother’s High School Musical. The show takes place in luxe Santa Barbara as Platt’s character, Payton Hobart, navigates the halls of Saint Sebastian High School with only one goal in mind: to be student body president. The usual Murphy suspects are present: Jessica Lange nails the role of a gaudy southern mother of a cancer-stricken girl (played by Zoey Deutch) and Gwyneth Paltrow, who Platt deemed “a goddess from above,” plays his adoptive mother. But there were also a slew of newcomers like Rahne Jones and Theo Germaine. At this point the party had moved across the street to the hush-hush Polo Bar. Enveloped in the wood-paneled downstairs area, Germaine talked about the cast’s bonding trip to Disneyland: “We color-coordinated our outfits before we went.”

In a cotton-candy pink Patou frock, Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) confirmed the cast has, in fact, become real-life friends: “We did weekends at Ben’s Malibu house—it was fun to be that inseparable.” Julia Schlaepfer (Charlie Says) in a Kate Spade confection agreed, “We are obsessed with each other!” David Corenswet (Affairs of State) reminisced about the times his cohort got him dancing after dinner outings: “I don’t dance very much, but everyone else is really good. They got me to do it. They were like ‘David, it’s time.’ ” Boynton went on to pinpoint the magic of Murphy: “I just think it’s that incredible marriage that Ryan Murphy seems to uniquely achieve, where the theatricality meets the really beautiful, important message and drama. It’s just a melting pot of everything.”

Guests, including Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things) and Gayle King, dined on precut crab claws, beluga caviar, and shrimp that took five bites to finish. Oscar winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) appeared from the stairwell entrance at one point, showing support for his girlfriend, Boynton. As the night wound down, the cast serendipitously belted out “happy birthday” to Corenswet, ending the evening on a celebratory note.

The Politician premieres on Netflix on Friday, September 27.

Originally Appeared on Vogue